The 2012 Pitchfork Music Festival continued on Saturday (7/14), and like day 1, Chicago's Union Park was plagued by some rain, but everything moved along as planned and the weather cleared up by mid-afternoon. Day 2 began with sets by The Psychic Paramount and The Atlas Moth (both of who we unfortunately missed) and then continued with Cloud Nothings, Flying Lotus, Schoolboy Q, Chromatics, Hot Chip, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Grimes and much more.

As mentioned, Hot Chip are currently touring in support of their solid new album, In Our Heads. The North American portion of that tour kicks off in Minneapolis this Friday (7/13) brings the band to NYC for shows at Prospect Park on July 18 with Gang Gang Dance and Terminal 5 on July 20 with Chromatics. The Prospect Park show is sold out, but if you weren't able to get tickets, you can watch it from the comfort of your own home when it streams live on NPR.

Tickets are still available for the T5 show, and as recently mentioned, we're giving away a pair. Details on that are HERE.

For the North American run, the band will be joined by guest drummer Jim Orso of former DFA labelmates Holy Ghost! (Hot Chip are now on Domino). Updated dates are listed below.

Gang Gang Dance have a few dates scheduled for this summer including Prospect Park on July 18opening for Hot Chip. That show has since sold out, but if you weren't able to get tickets, we're giving away a pair. Details on how to enter to win are below. Tickets are still available for Hot Chip's Terminal 5 show (7/20) with Chromatics.

UPDATE: The ticket contest is for Hot Chip's Terminal 5 show with Chromatics, not Prospect Park. Details below.

Other currently scheduled GGD dates include Hudson, NY's Basilica Music Festival with Liturgy, Mick Barr, Prince Rama, and more, and POP Montreal. The NYC band have also announced another hometown show which happens on September 21 at Public Assembly with fellow psych weirdos Sun Araw. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Speaking of Sun Araw, when main man Cameron Stallones isn't off recording records with reggae legends, he's also been working on his own new material. That material will see the light of day sometime this year in the form of The Inner Treaty LP. Stay tuned for more info on that.

Bon Iver recorded an iTunes session at East West studios which is available exclusively from iTunes starting today. It includes six tracks off 2011's great Bon Iver, Bon Iver and a cover of Bjork's "Who Is It?," which the band has played live many times. You can stream the session's opening track, "Beth/Rest" below.

As mentioned, Bon Iver is touring internationally throughout the summer and fall and will come to NYC on September 19 and 20 at Radio City Music Hall. Both of those shows are now sold out. All Bon Iver dates, including a recently announced European leg, are listed below.

Speaking of Bjork, she's teaming up with the New York Public Library (NYPL) and the Children's Museum of Manhattan to create interactive educational programs for middle school-aged students based on her Biophilia app. Speaking about the program, Bjork said:

"It's not a bookish thing. You cannot learn to make music from a book." "I love books; they're like the best ever," she added. "There are things you can only learn from books, but it's also important to introduce the physical aspects. So for me, it was very important to make, somehow, music education that was physical." (via NY Daily News)

Both Bon Iver and Bjork are set to play Oya Festival in Oslo, Norway this summer (Aug 7-11) with The Stone Roses, Refused, The Afghan Whigs, Bob Mould (performing Copper Blue), Chromatics, Cloud Nothings, John Maus, Purity Ring, Saint Etienne, SBTRKT, Screaming Females, St. Vincent, and more. Full list below.

Way Out West (Aug 9-11) in Gothenberg, Sweden features many of the same bands as Oya like Bon Iver, Refused, Afghan Whigs, St. Vincent, Purity Ring, John Maus, and Bob Mould in addition to Blur, Wilco, I Break Horses, Hot Chip, The War On Drugs, Mark Lanegan Band, Adolescents, Swans, and more. Check out the spotify playlist. The full lineup is listed below.

As mentioned, the reunited Mazzy Star is set to play both of those European festivals. Full lineups and the Bon Iver dates and song, below...

As you may be aware, Hot Chip's new album, In Our Heads is out today. If you've yet to hear it you can stream it on NPR or Spotify or buy it in a variety of formats. Album opener, "Motion Sickness" is one of the band's best pop moments so far (up there with "Boy From School" and "I Feel Better"). Other standouts include the galloping beatwork of "These Chains" and the slow romantic sounding "Look At Where We Are," and though it's a bit on the long side, the whole album is really great.

As mentioned, Hot Chip will be touring this summer and coming to NYC for a show at Prospect Park on July 18with Gang Gang Dance. Tickets for that show are still available, and the band have just added a smaller NYC show to happen two days later at Terminal 5 on July 20 with Chromatics. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (6/15) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (6/13) at noon.

Chromatics who released the much talked about Kill For Love earlier this year, and was in NYC for twoshows last month, are continuing to play shows internationally over the next few months. They'll return to NYC for another show on July 22 at Dekalb Market in Brooklyn for a "Fixed x Dog and Pony" show with Blondes. Some of their other US dates, including Boston and Philly, are with Hot Chip, who play Prospect Parkwith Gang Gang Dance a few days prior (7/18).

Blondes also play Dekalb Market, but on June 3rd (and not with Chromatics as originally posted). Both shows, and one with Maxxi Soundsystem, are on sale.

Chromatics have also released a drumless version of Kill For Love. Here's what Johnny Jewel told Pitchfork about the album:

It's 11 tracks, because some of the tracks don't have drums to begin with. It's all the pop songs without drums... I think people will have a lot of fun with it because everyone keeps remixing 'Birds of Paradise' because there were no drums on it... I also mastered an instrumental version of the entire album. I always master multiple versions in case I want to collage or edit them later. I was really liking the way the vocal mixes sounded with no drums and I think that the drums on the album are so heavy, that it's interesting to hear the record as this almost-empty, almost-a cappella kind of thing.

Download the drumless Kill For Lovefor free and check out the tracklist and listen to one of those "Birds of Paradise" remixes, with all dates below...

Tickets for many of the just-announced Hot Chip shows are on pre-sale now including the July 18th Brooklyn show in Prospect Park which Gang Gang Dance is opening. Tickets ($35 advance / $40 day of show) go on general sale Friday at noon.

As predicated, Hot Chip have scheduled a few more U.S. dates around their appearance at the Pitchfork Music Festival this summer, and those dates included July 18th in Brooklyn at the Prospect Park Bandshell. The band also posted a new song from their fortchoming album to YouTube. Watch/listen with all dates below...

Hot Chip have signed to Domino Records who will put out the band's fifth album, In Our Heads, which will be out June 12 in all the popular formats. It will be the band's first since 2010's One Life Stand.

Hot Chip's only American show scheduled at this point is the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago on July 13, but a NYC show before or after seems likely. No music yet (or album art) at this early juncture, but the tracklisting is at the bottom of this post.

The 2012 Pitchfork Music Festival returns to Chicago's Union Park Friday, July 13 - Sunday, July 15! Seven years in, this independently run three-day event has consistently proven to be one of the most welcoming, comfortable, reasonably priced and rewarding weekends of music around.

A tremendously focused and thoughtfully curated event, the Pitchfork Music Festival has historically introduced emerging bands while also honoring a great number of already beloved and internationally renowned acts. This year continues with that high standard and welcomes Vampire Weekend, Feist, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Hot Chip, AraabMUZIK, A$AP Rocky, The Field, Liturgy, Kendrick Lamar, Grimes, Cloud Nothings, Tim Hecker, and Willis Earl Beal! But this is only the beginning! There are more than 30 acts to still be announced.

Additionally, we are excited to announce that the Pitchfork Music Festival will not be raising ticket prices in 2012! Our goal has always been to create an affordable atmosphere with music at its focus, and do so in a way that is sustainable and exciting. So why raise ticket prices if you don't need to, right? Tickets for the 2012 Pitchfork Music Festival go on sale Friday, March 9 at 12 PM CST, with single-day tickets for $45 and a limited number of three-day passes for $110! Based on years past, three-day passes will sell out very quickly. Tickets will be available on the festival website.

In addition to its musical offerings, the Pitchfork Music Festival also features a wide array of other activities for its 50,000 attendees of all ages from 45 states and 26 countries to easily enjoy. With 50 individual vendors, as well as specialty fairs, the fest not only supports local businesses and economy, but also promotes the Chicago arts community as a whole.

We just mentioned that Hot Chip/LCD Soundsystem side project New Build added a second Mercury Lounge show (3/14) happening one day after their sold out NYC debut at the same venue (3/13). Tickets are on AmEx presale and go on sale Friday (1/20) at noon. These two shows are now part of a longer tour that the band will be on in March, but they are still the only two North American dates. All dates are listed below.

New Build just announced their second release on their own Lanark Recordings, a limited edition 12" single (they're only pressing 500 copies) called "Do You Not Feel Loved?" with remixes by Dominik Eulberg and Juju & Jordash. You can pre-order the single now and stream it along with its b-sides below.

New Build, the new project featuring Hot Chip members Felix Martin and Al Doyle (who was also in LCD Soundsystem) and engineer Tom Hopkins, announced last month/year that they'll be making their NYC debut at Mercury Lounge on March 13. That show has since sold out and they've since added another show happening one day later at the same venue (3/14). Tickets go on sale Friday (1/20) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (1/18) at noon.

In related news LCD Soundsystem is releasing a documentary called Shut Up and Play the Hits. Watch the trailer if you haven't already.

New Build is a new project from Hot Chip members Felix Martin and Al Doyle, who was also a member of LCD Soundsystem, and they are joined by engineer Tom Hopkins. They put out the limited edition "Misery Loves Company" 12" on November 28, which you can stream below and purchase at bandcamp. The b-side has a track called "Guitar Man," which features Pat Mahoney of LCD Soundsystem on drums and a remix by DFA labelmate Planningtorock of another track called "Finding Reasons," which also features vocals from Planningtorock.

New Build played their first show the day after the 12"'s release (11/29) in London. They are now planning a full length for 2012 and a tour in support of it which will come to NYC on March 13 at Mercury Lounge. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (12/30) at noon. The NYC show is the only one we know of at the moment but a full tour announcement will come soon.

Meanwhile, Al Doyle and Felix Martin's Hot Chip bandmates have been involved in other projects this year. Alexis Taylor has been playing as a member of About Group, which also features members of This Heat and Spiritualized. They released their debut album, Start and Complete on Domino Records this past April.

Joe Goddard released the Gabriel EP in August via DFA. You can stream that below. He's also been working as a member of The 2 Bears with DJ Raf Rundell. Earlier this week, they put out a winter mix which you can download for free in exchange for your email address at their website. Their debut LP, Be Strong, will be out on January 30 via Southern Fried.

Earlier this month LCD Soundsystem posted that they had finished their final tour show and were "hunkering down to learn as much as we can for the t5 and msg shows. oh dear." On March 10th they tweeted that they're "looking for a 12 to 16 (or more) part men's chorus to help us with... something... umm... email bgraf@hotmail.com it will rule. HELP!" Hopefully they worked that out by now because the gigs are just around the corner with the first of four Terminal 5 shows happening on Monday, March 28th. The final show goes down Saturday, March 2nd at Madison Square Garden. If you can't be there, well, Pitchfork has announced that they'll be streaming it.

Win Win, a new crew featuring Devlin, XXXChange, and Ghostdad, have a self-titled LP due via Vice Records on Feb 15th. The LP features many guest shouts over its 15 songs including Lizzie Bougatsos of Gang Gang Dance (check out "ReleaseRPM" and its remix above and below), Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip (check out "Interleave" above and below), Matt Sweeney, Spank Rock, Andrew WK, and many others. Lizzie and Alexis will also be on hand to perform live with Win Win at their record release party at the Andrew WK co-owned Santos Party House on 2/15. The free show will take place downstairs at Santos while Odd Future is on the first floor ("limited tickets available at the door" for the sold out show).

Alexis Taylor also has a gig of his own scheduled a few days later. He'll bless the 1's and 2's at Brooklyn Bowl on 2/19.

Alexis Taylor has also been keeping busy with another new project...

"There are many surprising things indeed to be discovered in the course of listening to Start and Complete, the new album from About Group (out APRIL 26, 2011 on Domino Records), but perhaps none more so than the beautifully unorthodox genesis of the band itself.

Comprising Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip), Charles Hayward (This Heat), John Coxon (Spring Heel Jack, Spiritualized) and Pat Thomas, who has played with the likes of Derek Bailey, Tony Oxley and others, the band originally formed to make a record of improvised music for the Treader label in 2009, having never played together as a whole before the day it took them to make their first album. After a clutch of live performances (supporting Gang Gang Dance, playing Ornette Coleman's Meltdown Festival and even Glastonbury, among others) they regrouped to record this album. [Domino Records]

An About Group video trailer with full album tracklist, with a whole bunch of Win Win stuff, below...

"It's more than an average sweat-your-brains-out, suffer-in-the-mud music festival. It's the Voodoo Experience, and it went down at City Park this weekend in New Orleans.

Voodoo Fest, one of the world's largest Halloween parties, housed thousands of attendees who, for three days of musical bliss, watched some of the world's most notorious names -- including Muse, Ozzy Osbourne, MGMT and My Morning Jacket -- and donned costumes ranging from zombies to superheroes, fictional characters to condiments and anything and everything in-between." [The Daily Reveille]

MGMT probably had the most talked about costumes of the weekend. The band dressed up as the cartoon cast of Scooby Doo. More pictures and a bunch of videos from this past weekend's Halloween-themed New Orleans fest (not necessarily in order - a big mix of all three days), and MMJ's setlist (they covered Black Sabbath again), below...

"By the time darkness fell, the crowd was sufficiently antsy. Their thirst for rich sound was quenched by Hot Chip's arrival, opening with 'And I Was a Boy From School' from their second album. The humid New York night blew through all their albums, playing crowd favorites like 'One Life Stand' and 'Over and Over.' The night was an eveloping blanket of musk, causing the band and the crowd to shed layers of clothing as they raged on.

One of the band members, Joe Goddard, was unable to be there because he was with his wife, expecting their first child. The other members made sure to pay due tribute to their beloved bandmate, closing the night with a gloriously extended version of 'Ready for the Floor' that made the entire island of Manhattan rumble." [Ology]

LCD Soundsystem still don't have any NYC dates coming up (maybe they're holding out for a big announcement?), but they will be in the area (if you're willing to drive to take a bus/train/plane). The band is spending the rest of August and part of September in Europe before returning to the US for a September 24th show at Naval Cruise Terminal at the Philadelphia Naval Yard. The lineup also includes Sleigh Bells (who just played Governors Isle) and DJs brought by the Making Time party (who are co-presenting it). Tickets are on sale.

Shows after that include an October 1st show at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY (not sure if it's open to the public) and more across the country, before a return to the UK in November. The first leg of those US dates is with Sleigh Bells, the second is with Hot Chip, who play Central Park SummerStage tonight (8/4) with Hercules & Love Affair and Holy Ghost.

"An aggregate 225,000 people bought tickets to see a [Coachella] roster headlined by Jay-Z, Muse and Gorillaz during the April 16-18 event at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio.

The previous attendance record was set in 2007, when the headliners included a reunited Rage Against the Machine. Final figures are still being tallied, but AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips said the gross will exceed $20 million.

Phillips said the future looked bleak for AEG Live's nascent All Points West festival, which took place in 2008 and 2009 across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, N.J.

"We're probably going to kill it," said Phillips. "As beautiful as (the site) is, it's very hard to get New Yorkers to cross that river. All Points West is an experiment that just didn't work." [Reuters]

The 2010 edition of Coachella actually began excactly one week ago today, and we already posted full picture sets from: DAY ONE, DAY TWO and DAY THREE. Now here is one last group that contains unposted outtakes from all three...

Hot Chip headlined their first of two shows at Terminal 5 in NYC last night (4/22). The xx, who could probably headline the venue themselves, opened the show. I don't have more pictures thistime, and I wasn't at the show, but I found this amusing letter: